1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to a contact for an electrical connector, and especially to a right angled compliant pin having a positioning portion for firmly fitting in a housing of the electrical connector.
2. The Prior Art
Compliant pins have become popular in establishing contact with the conductors in a multi-layer board, a back plane, or a simple circuit board having a plated through hole. A compliant pin has a compliant portion which has a normal width greater than the hole diameter but which can be deformed when it is loaded into the circuit board hole so that contact edge portions of the compliant portion will establish the electrical connection required with the conductors in the circuit board hole. The compliant portion thus is essentially a relatively stiff spring arrangement which, after insertion into the circuit board hole, will bear against the surface of the hole with sufficient force to retain the pin in the circuit board and to establish a sound electrical contact with the circuit board conductors.
Some commonly known types of compliant pins are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,186,982, 4,743,081, 4,206,964, and 4,606,589. Right angled compliant contacts in a receptacle connector usually have two clamping arms for engagement with corresponding contacts of a complementary connector upon insertion of the latter. The contact is bent substantially 90 degrees before terminating into a soldering tail.
FIGS. 5 and 6 show a conventional right angled contact 7 having an intermediate portion 70 bent to form a substantially right angled structure, and a clamping portion 73 and a soldering tail 71 respectively extending from opposite ends of the intermediate portion 70. A U-shaped portion 74 is formed between the intermediate portion 70 and the clamping portion 73. A shoulder 72 extends laterally from two sides of the soldering tail 71 providing exerting points for a jig (not shown) or the like to insert the tail 71 into holes of a positioning plate 75 of a related connector 78 thereby allowing the penetrated tail 71 (through the positioning plate 75) to be further inserted into a corresponding hole of a circuit board 76. However, the exertion points on the shoulder 72 may not be balanced during exertion by the jig, therefore the contact 7 is apt to be inserted into the positioning plate 75 at a slant thereby damaging the holes of the positioning plate 75 and resulting in a poor soldering effect on the circuit board 76 as specifically shown in FIG. 6.
Hence, an improved electrical contact is requisite to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.